Which country eats the most Italian food?

[GoodSarmatian]

I would guess that Italy eats the most Italian food and the USA eats the most Italian inspired food.
It could also be China or India due to sheer population, but I don't think it's as popular or widespread there as it is in The West. The Chinese aren't really into cheese, and iirc I've read somewhere that in Japan pizza is overpriced luxury food.

 

[Harv]

I voted for Italy.

Without looking up population, I assume that the population of the USA is about 7 times that of Italy. I do not think Americans eat Italian once every 7 days.

 

[warpus]

Yeah, but American meals are about 7 times as large as Italian ones.

This is a tough call for sure.

 

[Antilogic]

I voted for Italy.

Without looking up population, I assume that the population of the USA is about 7 times that of Italy. I do not think Americans eat Italian once every 7 days.

Have you ever been to the belt from New England to the Midwest? I probably had Italian-style cooking at least 3 times a week growing up. More than I exercised, that's for sure.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Yeah, but American meals are about 7 times as large as Italian ones.

This is a tough call for sure.

When I go to Barone's, I personally eat enough Italian food to feed a small Italian town.

 

[Harv]

Have you ever been to the belt from New England to the Midwest? I probably had Italian-style cooking at least 3 times a week growing up. More than I exercised, that's for sure.

It might come down to how the measure is made - and you might be right. Here is what I found.

24% of the global consumption of pasta is by Americans – the largest of any country in the world. Americans consume 6 billion pounds of pasta each year.

So if you measure the question, "Which country eats the most Italian food," with pounds or kilograms of pasta, then the Americans have it. The only other measure I can think of is Italian-style seasonings - and that would be harder to measure.

 

[warpus]

Is all pasta automatically "Italian food" though?

We eat some pasta dishes in Poland that aren't. For example we have lazanki, which are inspired by lasagna, but it's basically just noodles and cabbage and stuff. Nobody would call it Italian food.

Isn't mac n cheese very popular in the U.S.? Isn't that a "non-Italian food" pasta dish?

 

[Antilogic]

It might come down to how the measure is made - and you might be right. Here is what I found.



So if you measure the question, "Which country eats the most Italian food," with pounds or kilograms of pasta, then the Americans have it. The only other measure I can think of is Italian-style seasonings - and that would be harder to measure.

Yeah, pasta is a staple in that part of the country. Also a lot of it is cooked in casseroles, I remember eating a casserole of tomato, ground beef, pasta, and cheese. Or a "chicken parmesan" that consisted of broccoli, chicken pieces, cheese, and pasta without sauce. We had a bunch of quasi-Italian meals growing up.

Is all pasta automatically "Italian food" though?

We eat some pasta dishes in Poland that aren't. For example we have lazanki, which are inspired by lasagna, but it's basically just noodles and cabbage and stuff. Nobody would call it Italian food.

Isn't mac n cheese very popular in the U.S.? Isn't that a "non-Italian food" pasta dish?

There is probably some degree of lag time between the introduction (and bastardization) of a foreign dish and when it becomes part of the native cuisine. I think most Americans would consider spaghetti and meatballs Italian but probably consider mac 'n cheese American. The prior dish was invented by Italian immigrants living in cities like New York and Boston in the 19th century, while the latter was brought here by Thomas Jefferson from his European trips in the late 18th (but was inspired by dishes from France and Italy, according to wiki at least).

 

[warpus]

Yeah but I mean mac n cheese is a pasta dish, which to me means that we can't assume all pasta dishes being Italian food, however you define Italian food.

Unless you're defining pasta dish to mean italian food to begin with, and not just dishes that contain pasta noodles. But now I'm starting to sound like an insane pasta philosopher.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Yeah but I mean mac n cheese is a pasta dish, which to me means that we can't assume all pasta dishes being Italian food, however you define Italian food.

Unless you're defining pasta dish to mean italian food to begin with, and not just dishes that contain pasta noodles. But now I'm starting to sound like an insane pasta philosopher.

So, just to keep me from getting confused here...are there any sane pasta philosophers?

 

[bhsup]

are there any sane pasta philosophers?

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Personally vouching for the sanity of Chef Boy-Ar-Dee is a pretty bold stance, even for you.

 

[Harv]

Unless you're defining pasta dish to mean italian food to begin with, and not just dishes that contain pasta noodles. But now I'm starting to sound like an insane pasta philosopher.

If you want to sound like an insane pasta philosopher, you must have some percentage of pasta consumed in the USA can be considered Italian food.

I looked up Italy's consumption and got 3.3 billion pounds per year based on 25.3kg per capita. This is approximately 55% of consumption in the USA.

So how much of this is authentic Italian food? How much of it is bastardized Italian food? How much of it is Chef Boy-AR-Dee? How much of it is Mac and Cheese? How much of it is Mac and Cheese with tomatoes and Italian seasonings and therefore counts as Italian? (NOT!)

 

[Timsup2nothin]

I'm guessing that when people say mac n cheese they are meaning mac n chedder, or mac n the strange glowing orange cheese product that comes in a box. I usually use Havarti, so is my mac n cheese Danish food? Italian food? What if I throw in Italian sausage? Zucchini sauteed in olive oil? Both?

 

[Zack]

So are we assuming that Italians only eat Italian food?

 

[Manfred Belheim]

Does every single thing consumed in Italy count as Italian food?

 

[bhsup]

IIRC, Italy was the first country where Viagra ice cream was reported to have been served by intrepid entrepreneurs. Does that make it Italian food?

 

[Arwon]

I'm taking a different approach. If we define Italian food as anything grown or produced in Italy then the following is true:

Italy exported about 3.9 billion USD worth of food products to the USA in 2013. $1.7b of that was "wine, beer and related products" and the question wasn't about the consumption of Italian wine. This leaves $2.2b of food products, of which the largest are $0.7b "other foods" and $0.6b of "food oils, oilseeds".

Meanwhile Italy produced 48b EUR ($60b USD) of agricultural products at producers prices.

Regardless of how much they export I think clearly Italy eats a lot more food from Italy than the United States eats food from Italy.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

I bet the Carib Indians ate the most Italians.

 

[LamaGT]

How many generations after they leave Italy does an Italian family no longer count as Italian? Barone's is a third generation family business, so does it count as an Italian restaurant?

If an Italian immigrant gets a job at McDonald's, do my McNuggets count as Italian food?

When he can't pronounce his surname correctly. Steve Buscemi is not Italian, considering he didn't even know his name is pronounced like Bushemi.

Anyway to OP, in absolute numbers America will be #1, in relative of course Italy.